The four boys entered the forest, the ground was covered in dry leaves and small plants, many of the trees towered upwards their trunks massive, easily dwarfing any of the tree on their homeland, a fresh sweet scent filled the air, the forest was surprisingly well lit, when they stood above them on the walls of the outpost you couldn’t see the forest floor through the thick canopy, but here inside the forest beams of sunlight peered through at random spots giving the forest a warm glow, ever so often the branches above them would rustle, birds taking off and landing, sending out their various hoots, howls and chirps, a gentle breeze flowed throughout the forest,

The boys made their way following Aster’s lead, jumping down small drop-offs, climbing up small hills passing the various landmarks marked on the map, until they found themselves on a very old looking walking trail,

“Okay this trail should lead us straight to the edge of the forest”, Aster said, looking down at the map once more, then continuing forward,

“So Lev what did you and amon talk about after we left”, Aster asked,

“ever so curious”, Levant responded,

“I prefer inquisitive”, Aster said, Barak looked on his interest piqued, while Polaris just hung in the back recovering from his hangover,

“Do tell Lev, I want to hear also”, Barak said, steadying his walking pace to match Levant’s,

“fine”, he grumbled,

“I wanted to know why he and Yumi went against Aluric in the first place”, Levant said,

“ he and Aluric became orphans when the current king usurped the throne from his brother, Amon’s and Aluric’s parents were the personal guard of the former king, and because of their loyalty they were made a public example and killed,” Levant explained,

“hmm, and yet he is still working with the people that killed his family, he is scum”, Barak said, tightening his hand into a fist, the boys came to an old stone bridge with a river running under it, the water clear and fresh, taking a short stop Polaris pulled some of the water from the river splashing it on his face, Aster reread the map again, while Barak listened as Levant continued,

“he also told me a bit about Yumi, he told me hen it came to warfare, she was even more ruthless than Aluric while she was on his side”, Levant continued,

“ohh, from how it seemed I thought she opposed him from the very beginning”, Barak said,

“Nope, apparently she left his side once he started killing innocents”, Levant answered,

“well atleast she has a line she won’t cross”, Polaris chimed in,

“and here I thought you went mute after drinking to much”, Levant said,

“I swear I’m done drinking with you two”, Polaris said, The boys continued forward on the path,

“still though, I fully get why Amon is Against them, and I might understand Yumi a bit more now”, Barak said,

“but still, it pisses me off that someone would be able to side with, much less work under the person who killed his parents, if that were me I’d be trying my best to take hi head off his shoulder everyday”, Barak continued,

“yeah I know Rak”, Levant said,

“we all know”, Aster said, “but people respond to tragedy differently, I see it as a traumatized person living under their abuser, Plus, think back to what Amon told us, Aluric and the prince have been friends since childhood”, Aster said,

“he also mentioned that when the king found out he invited them all to the palace”, Levant said,

“if I were the king and I found out my son had made friends with the kid of two of my Political enemies who I had killed, I would allow that friendship to grow, keeping and eye and control over them, if that’s the case this king, he’s smart and cunning, he pacified them without them even noticing, and I guarantee if this war never started Amon and Aluric would have never opposed the throne”, Aster said,

“when you put it like that we should be careful with how we deal with them going forward”, Polaris said,

“ugghh, this would be much easier if we could just march in there and take out the lot of them”, Barak said, throwing both of his hands on his face and screaming into the air, The other three burst out in laughter,

“I agree that would make things easier”, Levant said, the trees began to thinning out and the path began to widen, the ground beneath soon changed from roots, dried branches and dead leaves to soft soil and thick grass, at the end of the path stood a large field, that could easily fit two or three small villages, but it was completely empty, and off into the distance you could see what appeared to be a wall that ran the length of the large field,

“well I’m guessing those walls are the walls of the capital”, Aster stated, Rolling the map up and tying the string around it, he placed it in a satchel that he had slung over one shoulder,

“What else would they be captain obvious”, Levant replied to aster’s statement,

Aster let out a sigh, ”why do you seem extra aggressive all of a sudden”, Aster responded sarcastically,

Barak walked over to a large stone nearby and sat on top of it, after fumbling around for a, he took a joint out of his pants pocket, and placed it in his mouth,

“oi, Levant give me a light”, Barak said to Levant,

Levant looked at Barak from the corner of his eye, and pointed his finger at him, shooting a miniature ball of fire in his direction, lighting the tip of the joint,

“oh great now I really am a glorified lighter”, Levant said very displeased, as Polaris snickered behind him at what he just said,

“find something funny you walking ice block”, Levant shouted at Polaris,

“that’s rich coming from someone who was just used as a lighter”, Polaris retorted,

the two were now literally butting heads, aster however just ignored their argument and walked over next to Barak, leaning against a tree that stood next to the large stone, after a few seconds Barak pushed the joint in Aster’s direction,

Aster hesitated for a moment, looking Barak in his eyes, he then took the joint out of Barak’s hand, placing it to his mouth, inhaling deeply,

“so what’s been on your mind recently, you got that look in your eyes again, that look of when something is eating at you”, Aster asked, a genuine look of worry in his eyes,

“all of this, it’s way to familiar to back then back when I”, Barak said,

“ back when you left the village, I can see why this would bring up those particular memories, well the one good thing that came out of you leaving is that monstrous strength of yours, and leora, so it wasn’t a total loss on your part”, aster said, his memories from back then flashing in the back of his mind,

He could still smell the smell of burning flesh mixed with burning wood, a pungent odor, he smelt it as though he was there again, as though the buildings were still burning, He and Barak had met up when all the commotion started, Skovol members were running into houses, fighting many of their clan members, it replayed so vividly in his mind, Barak fighting ferociously in front of him, Aster tried to keep up but felt an over powering force knock him into a building that had partially collapsed on him, by the time he got free, Barak was standing over the body of the leader of the Skovol clan who had a knife sticking out of his eye, and tears running out of Barak’s, Polaris soon appeared afterwards, and the Levant, Aster had Levant take Barak away, he did little to resist, He had Polaris help him drag the body inside, they were planning to burn the house down with the body inside to hide what barak had did, when they saw what the skovol leader had one, Aster staged it to look like they had taken each other out,

“we DEMAND justice for our leader”, A dwarven voice shouted across the room, Months had passed since the incident with the skovol clan, Barak was on one of his mysterious disappearances, and Aster, Levant and Polaris stood in the council room, with their hands behind their backs standing at attention as the adults argued back and forth,

“they took each other out, as far as we are concerned the matter is settled”, Canaan argued,

“bullshit, he would not have been taken out by a mere woman, he was stronger than that”, the dwarven man said, slamming his fists into the wooden table, Canaan clasped his hands together, Aster watched on silently, knowing what they had done,

“well that is how we found them both gone in the same house with their weapons drawn, you just have to accept it”, Canaan said,

“Just accept it, should we just accept that several of our men saw the child of the two people who have caused us great harm running away from that house where our Chieftain was found dead, and should we just accept that that same child is now nowhere to be found”, The dwarven man said,

“yes that is exactly what I’m saying, do not forget, that we offered a peaceful way out and your same very chieftain refused, as far as we are concerned this matter is settled and he got what he deserved for being a warmonger”, Canaan said, Aster finally snapped back to the present, he found himself just staring blankly into space,

“well some good things come out of the bad, though Leora might have to leave soon, her family called for her again”, Barak replied, while Levant and Polaris continued arguing in the background,

“ah yes the far away well off religious family that she so desperately ran away from”, Aster said, Inhaling one last time and handing Barak the joint again,

“for fuck’s sake, both of you are useless”, barak shouted,

“don’t see why you’re shouting they’re fighting because of you to begin with”, Aster pointed out,

“yeah yeah, whatever, lets go”, barak shouted as he walked off into the field,

Guild of Artemis front hall

Aluric walked through the side entrance of the front hall of the main guild building, it was a small nicely decorated wooden door with the insignia of a tree growing from the letter A, the door lead into the large hall which had many tables and seating scattered throughout the floor, off to the side near the front entrance stood the reception area and next to it stood the quest board, and what stood in front of him was a large wooden staircase lined with brown carpet leading to the upper floors, he had now gotten back from being out the whole night, with the whole situation with yumi, he was tired and all that seemed to be on his mind was resting so he could finish some of the preparations that needed to be done later in the day,

but as he was about to head upstairs to his office, he heard someone shout out his name,

“Aluric, Aluric”, the voice shouted out, a small framed girl came running out from the corridor that led to the main hall of the guild, she was short, and wore a red long sleeved shirt with the shoulders cut out and a golden cross embedded in the middle of the neck area, and a black close fitted jeans, all completed with a pair of red and black sneakers, her hair was orange with one side tucked revealing her long pointed ears ,with her hair stopping just past her shoulders, her eyes matching the colour of her hair,

“oh jinnie it’s you, odd that you aren’t at your desk”, aluric answered,

“i’m glad I caught you, so I um...need a favour’, jinnie said to him nervously,

“what are you acting all nervous for”, aluric asked,

‘well, I work for you now, plus lately you’ve seemed kind of distant and cold, so it’s kind of um…. Throwing me off”, jinnie said, with her hands behind her back as she rocked back and forth,

“jinnie we’ve known each other since we were kids, you can just talk to me normally, you know”, aluric said, as he stepped off the stairway to talk with her properly,

“so what is it you need from me anyways”, aluric asked jinnie,

“right, everyone else is out on missions or out trying to get the materials needed for when the rebel army shows up, so I have no one to go to the weapons smith and collect the extra weapons you had ordered, so could you please go get them ?”, she asked, while bowing her head, and pushing a piece of paper towards him,

“sure why not”, he answered with a smile on his face, as he remembered the scared little girl that used to cling to him and amon, when they were little, the same little girl that used to get shouted at by yumi, for her clumsiness,

Jinnie looked up at aluric a bright smile running across her face, but that smile faded when she noticed the blood stain and claw marks in his coat,

“ALURIC….WHAT HAPPENED”, Jinnie shouted, as she bagan crowding him and pulling his coat to the side,

“jinnie, jinnie…I’m fine I already healed it, thanks, for the blood sample by the way”, Aluric said, grabbing her hand as she reached for his side,

“it’s….its no big deal, it’s the least I can do now that I’m stuck behind a desk all day, I miss going out on missions, with you and yum…the others”, Jinnie said,

“how did you get that anyways, you are usually so careful”, jinnie asked,

“I got distracted fighting a semi divine tiger”, Aluric replied,

“the only time I ever see you get distracted is when you’re around…her”, jinnie said,

“I was, yumi was there and the tiger attacked her, honestly after it struck me and I saw I going to kill her I lost, I can’t even tell you how I killed it, I blacked out with rage, when I regained myself the tiger was dead and I was dragging it carrying yumi in the other hand”, Aluric said,

“wait she was there, why, how was she, is she okay ?”, Jinnie asked frantically,

“yes jinnie she is fine, I know you miss her, she was like a big sister to you, after all, all four of us were orphans and we were the only family we had, so it’s okay to miss her”, Aluric said, taking the piece of paper out of her hands, he walked through the door again to head for the weapons smith,

back with the boys

they had now entered into the capital city of Dracht, and to each of their surprise, the capital seemed extremely peaceful,

“well, not what I was expecting”, Levant stated, as he seemed the most shocked at how peaceful it was,

“what were you expecting then ?”, Polaris asked Levant,

“i don’t know, at least a little more tension in the air or something”, Levant replied,

“I was half expecting them to have their enemies in cages being paraded all throughout the city”, aster said , snickering to himself,

“well I wouldn’t rule out that option just yet we’ve only been here all of two minutes”, Polaris said, his eyes glancing up to the tops of the buildings,

“is it just me or am I the only that feels like we are being watched since we got here”, Polaris stated,

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they have spies all over the kingdom, you know them being evil and conquering and whatnot”, Aster said, As they continued to walk around quite aimlessly,

“i’m off to find the guild”, barak said, suddenly,

“actually it might be good if we split up, with pol saying we are being watched and all, it will give them a harder time to follow all of us”, Aster said,

“sure why not, right not we are…..”, Levant said looking around, he scanned to his left seeing a sign marked WhiteWest Townsquare,

“in WhiteWest Townsquare, we’ll just meet up back here if we can’t find anything”, Levant said, as the boys split up and went their separate ways,